UH Manoa student films selected for Shanghai film festival

Six student films from the UH Mānoa Academy for Creative Media, including a unique Hawaiʻi-China co-production, have been selected for showing at the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival being held June 14-22.

Six ACM student filmmakers will also travel to China for the festival and to shoot some short films on location with students from Shanghai University. This first U.S.-China student film co-production is part of the SMART (Student Media Art) Exchange program, partnering the two universities with the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival (HIFF) and the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF). The films include the initial international collaboration, "It Happened One Afternoon," directed by ACM student Russell Blanchard and featuring Shanghai University student filmmakers in the cast and crew. Also, "Fresh Lenses," a documentary on the collaboration by Crystal Chen, will be featured in the Shanghai program along with "Matalasi," by Dana Ledoux Miller, "Catching Chase," by Jay Hanamura, "Just Like That," by Nasser Marghalani, and "Yamanote Line" by Ark FangRan Mu.

"Matalasi" screened at the 2007 HIFF, and "Yamanote Line" was filmed in Tokyo and Honolulu.

Another ACM film, "My Brother‘s Keeper," also screened at the 2007 HIFF, was selected for inclusion in the festival‘s International Student Short Film Competition.

The SMART Exchange program brings student films and filmmakers from ACM to Shanghai, and from Shanghai University to Honolulu each year as part of the decade-long relationship between the Hawaiʻi and Shanghai International Film Festivals.

"The SMART program is the first step in the expansion of cooperation between Hawaii International Film Festival and Shanghai International Film Festival, in facilitating and supporting international exchange in education. We are pleased to see the steady progress of this program," said HIFF Executive Director Chuck Boller, "HIFF and SIFF are also seeking to further expand such exchange to a larger scale, with more institutions involved from China and the U.S." "The screening of the ACM student films always draws a packed house in Shanghai," said ACM Chair Tom Brislin. "The audience is impressed not only with the technical skill of our students as filmmakers, but also by their depth and sensitivity as storytellers. Each film offers unique and rich insights into the people and culture of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific."

The ACM-Shanghai student films are being produced through funding from the state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism, the Hawaiʻi Film Office, and the Hawai‘i State Legislature.